The following is a list of musicians who have toured and or recorded with the Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha, which was founded in Oslo in 1982 by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals). Current touring musicians include drummer Karl-Oluf Wennerberg & programmer/keyboardist Erik Ljunggren (both of whom first joined in 2009) and bassist Even Ormestad (since 2015). Former musicians have included Leif Karsten Johansen, Mike Sturgis, Randy Hope-Taylor, Matthew Letley, Per Hillestad, Per Lindvall and Sven Lindvall. [1]
Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|
Morten Harket |
|
| all releases | |
Magne Furuholmen |
| |||
Pål Waaktaar-Savoy |
|
Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|
Karl-Oluf Wennerberg [2] |
|
| ||
Erik Ljunggren |
|
| ||
Even Ormestad | 2015–present [6] [7] |
|
| |
Kjetil Bjerkestrand | on occasion |
|
|
Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lindsay Elliott | 1985 [8] | drums | "Take on Me" music video, Top of the Pops, "The Sun Always Shines on TV" music video | |
Gina Schock | 1986 | US TV appearances on American Bandstand , Soul Train and Solid Gold. [9] | ||
Mike Sturgis [10] | 1986–1987 [11] | Scoundrel Days (1986) | ||
Leif Karsten Johansen |
| |||
Dag Kolsrud | keyboards | none | ||
Ian Wherry [12] | 1988–1989 [13] | |||
Randy Hope-Taylor [14] | bass | Stay on These Roads (1988) | ||
Rafael Gayol (aka Danny Gayol) [15] | percussion | none | ||
Matthew Letley [16] | drums | |||
Per Hillestad [17] | 1990–1994 [18] [19] [20] |
| ||
Jørun Bøgeberg [21] |
| |||
Sigurd Køhn | 1991–1994 [19] [20] | saxophone | none | |
Øivind Madsen | 1994 (Africa leg of tour) [22] | bass | ||
Sven Lindvall | 2000–2007 [23] [24] [25] |
|
| |
Per Lindvall | drums |
| ||
Christer Karlsson |
|
| ||
Anneli Drecker | 2000–2002 (and selected concerts in 2010, 2016, & 2022) [23] [24] [26] [5] |
| ||
May Kristin Kaspersen | 2002 (Russian leg of tour) [24] |
| none | |
Jonny Sjo | 2006 (substitute) [27] | bass | ||
Tini Flaat Mykland | 2016 (selected concerts) [5] | backing vocals | ||
Lars Horntveth | 2017–2018 [28] |
|
| |
Morten Qvenild | keyboards |
| ||
Madeleine Ossum |
| |||
Emilie Heldal Lidsheim |
| MTV Unplugged: Summer Solstice (2017) | ||
Tove Margrethe Erikstad |
|
Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sondre Lerche | 2002 | vocals | Lerche performed with the band on "Locust" at the bands reunion concert in 2002. [29] | |
Erin Hill | 2008 | harp | Opening act in 2008 in Europe and London and at Royal Albert Hall. [30] | |
Kygo | 2015 |
| Kygo performed with the band at The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Concert on a remixed version on "Take on Me" | |
Ian McCulloch |
| vocals | McCulloch sang on two songs, "The Killing Moon" (by his band, Echo & the Bunnymen) and "Scoundrel Days", with the band at both MTV Unplugged concerts at Øygardshallen (Giske Harbour Hall) on the island of Giske in 2017, [31] [32] as well as at the O2 Arena, London in February 2018 on the same songs. [33] [34] | |
Alison Moyet | 2017 | Moyet performed at the MTV Unplugged concert, on the second show, on "Summer Moved On". [31] [32] | ||
Lissie | Lissie guested on “I’ve Been Losing You” at both MTV Unplugged concerts. [31] [32] | |||
Ingrid Helene Håvik | Håvik guested on “The Sun Always Shines on TV” at both MTV Unplugged concerts. [31] [32] | |||
Susanne Sundfør | 2018 | Sundfør performed on "I've Been Losing You" and on "The Sun Always Shines on TV" at the Oslo Spektrum in February 2018. [35] [36] |
Period | Members | Releases |
---|---|---|
1982 – 1985 |
|
|
1985 |
Additional personnel
|
|
1986 |
Additional personnel
| US TV appearances on American Bandstand , Soul Train and Solid Gold. [9] |
1986 – 1987 |
Additional personnel
|
|
1988 – 1989 [13] |
Additional personnel
|
|
1990 – 1991 |
Additional personnel
| |
1991 – 1994 |
Additional personnel
|
|
Band on hiatus from 1994 – 1998 | ||
1998 – 2000 |
Additional personnel
|
|
2000 – 2002 |
Additional personnel
|
|
2002 |
Additional personnel
| |
2002 – 2007 |
Additional personnel
|
|
2008 |
| |
| ||
| ||
2009 – 2010, 2011 |
Additional personnel
|
|
2015 – 2016 |
Additional personnel
|
|
2017 – 2018 |
Additional personnel
| |
2019 – present |
Additional personnel
|
|
Image | Name | Years active | live performance / studio session | Release contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hollywood Bowl Orchestra | 2022 | Live performance | Live concert at the Hollywood Bowl | |
Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra | 2022 | Studio / Live session | Featured on the album True North | |
Macedonian Radio Symphony Orchestra | 2015 | Studio session | Featured on the album Cold As Stone | |
Norwegian Radio Orchestra | 2011 | Live performance | Memorial service | |
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra | 2010 | Live performance | Only one show at the Royal Albert Hall in London and one show at Oslo Konserthus in Oslo | |
Norwegian Radio Orchestra | 1998, 2001 and 2015 | Live performance | Nobel Peace Price concert | |
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Norwegian Radio Orchestra | 2001 | Studio session | Used on recordings on the A-ha album Minor Earth Major Sky | |
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 1986 | Studio session | On the recording of the music video version of the song Hunting High and Low from the studio album of the same name | |
Kaoru You know that Even our bass player is touring and recording with a-ha? And that Lars has written strings for two songs on the forthcoming a-ha album?
Erin toured with and opened for a-ha in 2008 in Europe and London, where she played solo at the Royal Albert Hall.